News & Events » May termhttps://www.goshen.edu/news
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 21:57:10 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1First time abroad, GC student feels at home around the worldhttps://www.goshen.edu/news/2014/08/06/first-time-abroad-gc-student-feels-home-around-world/
https://www.goshen.edu/news/2014/08/06/first-time-abroad-gc-student-feels-home-around-world/#respondWed, 06 Aug 2014 16:08:30 +0000http://www.goshen.edu/news/?p=10886“My favorite place in the world,” said Andrea Medina, a Goshen College senior social work major from Goshen, “is Alhambra, an ancient Islamic palace in Granada, Spain.”

Before visiting Spain, Medina had never been outside the United States. The beauty of the palace profoundly affected Medina, but not just because of the intricate Islamic architecture and the sprawling view of the city.

“I wasn’t there on my own,” said Medina. “This trip was the first time anyone in my family has traveled overseas. I look back on how my parents migrated to the United States from Mexico, and I have such an appreciation to be where I am and for my parents and their efforts. I felt like I was traveling for them.”

She was among 22 students who participated in Goshen College’s May term history course in Spain and Morocco. Alhambra was one of the many historical sites that the students visited.

Standing on the topmost tower of her favorite place in the world, Medina scanned the 360-degree view of the city. Taking in the magnificence of the moment, she thought of her family in Goshen.

Medina’s parents and two siblings were supportive of her decision to study abroad. But as a commuter student, Medina had never been away from her family for longer than a few days at a time.

“Before I left, I had a mix of emotions,” said Medina. “I was nervous, scared, and didn’t want to leave my parents. I didn’t know what to anticipate, but I knew I had their support.”

While in Spain, Medina felt at home with the Spanish language and Catholic culture. Morocco, however, was rich with unfamiliarity. Instead of allowing the fear of a new experience frighten her, she embraced it with awe and willingness to learn.

“I had an attitude to take in as much as possible,” said Medina. “I didn’t know I was like that.”

Growing up in Goshen

Medina was born in Chicago but raised in Goshen. As a student at Goshen High School, she had dreams of attending college somewhere far from home.

“I never wanted to go to Goshen College growing up,” she said. “But once I visited campus, I fell in love with it.”

Most of Medina’s college experience was spent in class or commuting to and from campus. It wasn’t until the fall of her junior year that Medina considered studying abroad.

Becoming a global citizen

One day, as Medina and her friends chatted in the commuter lounge on campus, an older woman introduced herself as a visitor and joined into the conversation. Wanting to learn more about the college, she asked Medina and her friends why they hadn’t participated in Study-Service Term, the college’s 13-week immersion program that focuses on international and intercultural understanding. They answered collectively: “the money.”

The woman’s next words, for Medina, were life changing.

“She said that money would always be an issue throughout all our lives. But that we should invest in traveling while we’re young and we have the opportunity,” said Medina.

In that moment, Medina decided to sign up for the Spain and Morocco May term course. Soon after, she moved on campus to nurture relationships and seek more fulfilling experiences.

The Spain and Morocco experience was an integral part of Medina’s growth, but her motivation to embrace the culture also had an effect on other students and, specifically, Spanish professor Dean Rhodes, who led the course in Spain and Morocco.

“She was the type of student that I like to have in this course since everything was so meaningful to her and she was such an eager learner,” said Rhodes. “While language was not a barrier for her in Spain, it was in Morocco, but this made no difference to her. She still interacted with the Moroccan families and treated them with respect and appreciation.”

During her senior year, Medina plans to pursue a social work internship in Chicago. She’s also planning a trip to Puerto Rico this month and to Pakistan in December.

Although she’s unsure what the future will hold, she is concentrating on living fully wherever she is.

“I don’t want to spend a moment of my life being unhappy,” said Medina. “The Spain and Morocco trip gave me a boost to continue doing that.”

Students will explore Kenya and six other countries during the college’s three-week May Term starting April 30.

This May, campus might be a bit quieter than usual as nearly 100 Goshen College students travel abroad during the college’s unique three-week May term.

Six international courses will take students across the globe to Nepal, Kenya, Greece, Italy, China, Spain and Morocco – and that doesn’t even include the summer Study-Service Term (SST) units in Peru, Senegal and Nicaragua that begin in May. Many of these classes are interdisciplinary and open to all students regardless of year or major.

“May Term gives students who are not able to go on SST the opportunity to go abroad and have a cross-cultural experience,” said Tom Meyers, director of international education. “Even for students who have already gone on SST, this is a chance to experience yet another culture. It’s a wonderful window into a larger world.”

The Healthcare in Nepal course will give 11 nursing students the chance to work in a hospital alongside Nepali nursing students from the Tansen School of Nursing in the hills of Western Nepal. Gail Weybright, associate professor of nursing, and Beth Beels, a 1975 GC nursing graduate, will lead the course.

“We’re excited to see our students develop cross-cultural relationships with the Nepali students and apply their clinical skills in a very different setting,” said Weybright. “We believe it will be a mutually beneficial experience for all the students involved.”

At the same time, students in the Business in China course will travel to six cities in China to learn about the country’s rapidly developing economy. Students will have the opportunity to stay with host families and learn about every sector of the economy through field trips and university lectures.

“I see many connections between Elkhart County and China’s manufacturing sectors,” said Michelle Horning, professor of accounting and course leader. “This class offers a trip to a country the students are unlikely to go to on their own, but it’s a place they will hear about a lot in the business world. You can’t look at the global economy without looking at China.”

Meanwhile in Kenya, film students will create two documentaries while visiting agricultural sustainability projects in and around the capital city of Nairobi.

“This course is taking what the students have learned in class and putting it into practice,” said Kyle Hufford, manager of the college’s FiveCore Media production company and a professor of the course.

While film students are creating documentaries, public relations majors like Natasha Weisenbeck will be collecting and sharing stories alongside the Foods Resource Bank in Kenya’s Ndeiya region. This class will be Weisenbeck’s first time traveling out of the United States.

“May term classes like Communications in Kenya allow me to have similar experiences as my SST-experienced classmates, while also providing me an opportunity to hone my skills in public relations and learn how communities in other countries are approaching sustainability issues first-hand,” said Weisenbeck, a senior from Clifton, Ill.

Other international courses offered this May include Kenya Research, a wildlife conservation course set in the savannas of Kenya; History in Spain and Morocco, a course that explores the historic link between Granada, Spain, and Rabat, Morocco; and The Journey of Paul in Greece and Rome, a course that traces the Apostle Paul’s footsteps through the Mediterranean.

Goshen College typically offers two or three international May term classes in a given year, so six course offerings are “an anomaly,” said Meyers. Though more students will be off-campus than usual, international May term courses have been a staple at Goshen College for over 40 years.

In addition to international courses, other off-campus May term opportunities include two marine biology courses in Florida as well as environmental education and ornithology courses at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center in Wolf Lake, Ind.

This year’s May term will begin on Wednesday, April 30 and end on Wednesday, May 21. To follow select course blogs, visit http://www.goshen.edu/blogs/.

]]>https://www.goshen.edu/news/2014/04/29/may-term-courses-ticket-study-abroad/feed/0From the classroom to the colonies, students gain a new perspective on Anabaptism in Paraguayhttps://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/06/17/from-the-classroom-to-the-colonies-students-gain-a-new-perspective-on-anabaptism-in-paraguay/
https://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/06/17/from-the-classroom-to-the-colonies-students-gain-a-new-perspective-on-anabaptism-in-paraguay/#respondMon, 17 Jun 2013 18:00:24 +0000http://www.goshen.edu/news/?p=7627

The Goshen College Anabaptist History in Paraguay May term class outside of a Beachy Amish school in the Luz y Esperanza colony in East Paraguay. The class gathered at the school to play with the children, sing, eat and hear from church leaders.(Photo courtesy of Mara Weaver)

Not everyone travels 5,000 miles to go to class. But during May term this year, a group of Goshen College students made their way to Paraguay to experience Anabaptist culture, identity and history in South America firsthand.

Goshen College Professor of History John D. Roth led 17 students in an exploration of the different Anabaptist cultures of Paraguay. The class trekked from the capital city of Asunción to Mennonite colonies in the Gran Chaco and in eastern Paraguay during their three-week learning tour of the country.

Roth has led three May term classes in Europe, tracing the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, but this was his first time leading an Anabaptist history class in South America. The new location arose from his shifting focus to global Anabaptism and his recent travels to emerging Anabaptist locations in Central and South America, Asia and Africa.

“I have tried to reorient my understanding of Anabaptism from a focus primarily on the 16th century, German-speaking tradition to its contemporary expression in 85-plus different countries,” Roth said. “I have found Paraguay to be an ideal “laboratory” for thinking through this new perspective.”

According to Roth, at least 20 different Anabaptist-Mennonite groups have settled in Paraguay, some with deep roots in traditional European Anabaptism. They preserve a strong sense of their ethnic, cultural and religious identity by living in relatively isolated colonies far from Asunción. Many of these groups came to Paraguay from Russia, Canada or the United States, bringing with them some elements of their tradition, while also absorbing Paraguayan aspects of life.

Other Anabaptist groups in the country have emerged as a result of local missions among native Paraguayans, who generally speak Spanish or Guaraní, a native dialect, and have adopted worship styles similar to the evangelical traditions around them.

“Paraguay is a microcosm of the diversity and variety of the global Anabaptist-Mennonite church today,” Roth said.

For Mara Weaver, a 2013 graduate with a history degree from Bloomington, Ill., the class provided an opportunity to learn more about her Anabaptist heritage in a unique South American setting. “I have an interest in Anabaptist-Mennonite history and hadn’t had a chance to take an Anabaptist history course on campus,” she said. “In addition to that, I knew next to nothing about Mennonites in Paraguay before the trip, so I figured it would be a great opportunity to learn a lot about an unfamiliar subject.”

While Roth kept the class busy with readings, journal assignments, discussions and special projects, the main mode of learning came from the group’s experiences both in the capital and visiting Mennonite and Amish colonies throughout the country.

“I was expecting more of a history class – and we certainly did learn a lot about Anabaptist history and Paraguayan history, as well as the history of the Mennonite groups in Paraguay – but quickly realized that it was much more than that,” Weaver said. “For me, the way that I approached the subject matter was very much shaped by the fact that we were not just studying people and theological movement of the past. We were interacting with and living with the people at the heart of our study.”

The Goshen College Anabaptist History in Paraguay May term class share conversation and a meal with members of the community at the Bruderhof house in Asunción.(Photo courtesy of Mara Weaver)

After arriving in Asunción, the class spent six days exploring the city, learning about the history of Anabaptists in Paraguay from local leaders and reflecting on their experiences. They then travelled to Menno Colony, a settlement founded in 1926 in the Paraguayan Chaco by Russian Mennonite immigrants. There they stayed with host families and experienced life and culture in the colony firsthand.

After a few days back in Asunción, which included a visit to Paraguay’s largest prison that is partly maintained by one of the Mennonite churches in Asunción, the class made its way to east Paraguay. There they stayed near the Sommerfeld Colony and visited different groups in the area, again staying with Mennonite and Beachy Amish host families.

“I loved the opportunity to stay with host families,” said Ben Hochstetler, a sophomore from Goshen. “In both places I was blessed with tremendous host families who helped provide answers to my questions and who treated our group with incredible hospitality.”

For Weaver, the class was a chance to not only explore history, but her own faith as well. “I often found that my reflections on the content of the course warranted quite a bit of introspection and pushed me to nail down some of my own theological beliefs, as well as challenging me to question my own ethnic and cultural traditions and practices,” she said.

Hochstetler had a similar experience. “I find it fascinating to see how some of the basic Mennonite core convictions that I hold as a Mennonite in North America have been shaped and almost reinterpreted by the Mennonites that live in Paraguay,” he said.

Roth was impressed by the energy and insight of the students. “Their questions, their journal reflections, their individual projects were all amazingly insightful; and it seemed as if we were engaged in conversations about our experiences at every hour of the day,” Roth said. “I have never been more proud of Goshen College students. They were eager to think in interdisciplinary ways, moving across theology, ethics, history, sociology and anthropology as we tried to understand the diversity of contexts.”